Jess writes: Off the northeast coast of Malaysia lay some of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. The Perhentian Islands consist of Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar. Pulau means island in Malay. Besar is the bigger of the two and is a little more touristy and family oriented (which means the hotels are a little more expensive). Kecil is extremely small; only a 10-minute hike from one side to the other. We researched all the accommodations before arriving, as many of them don’t have Air Con (only the Americans call it AC and they look at you funny when you say it so we conformed). The island is divided into two main areas separated by a jungle with one path connecting the two. The sunrise side is larger and has several combo hotel/dive shop/internet room/restaurants. We stayed on the sunset side of the island in a beautiful bungalow on a hilltop overlooking a cliff.
On one side is the pier and a somewhat busy beach front with various restaurants and guesthouses. Longtail boats come in and out all day long taking tourists out snorkeling or on tours or they might be just going out to fish. Tourism is obviously the only livelihood the islanders have. Catching fish, selling fish, cooking fish, snorkeling, scuba diving, a few small shops selling necessities (such as suntan lotion and Frisbees), 8-10 restaurants and about 20 guesthouses. We’re talking small. The place we stayed was called Shari-La. It’s currently being remodeled. Upon completion we probably couldn’t afford to stay there – at least not for long. It’s going to be an amazing place. The restaurant is located over the cliffs and decks are being built so guests can have a perfect view of the sunset. The bungalows are spacious and clean with nice hardwoods, but can be closed off so at night it’s completely pitch black. We loved it! One side the hotel has stairs down to “Romantic Beach.” We saw maybe 8 people there all three days we went. The beach was deserted accept for the locals who come fish off the cliffs every night. We watched as they caught the fish, gutted them and built a fire to eat their dinner. Simple life.
Every night we walked down to the beach on the other side of our hotel, watched the sunset from the cliff, then went to dinner at “Mama’s Café.” The staff here is friendly and fun and the food was SO good. Every evening when it gets dark around 7:30 or 8 p.m. they light up the BBQ on the beach front. You sit at tables stuck in the sand and can dine on any type of perfectly grilled fish, along with a side of rice, baked potato, coleslaw and fruit. Seriously, I had 3 lobster tails with garlic butter – 5 nights in a row. FOR less than $6! I want to go back! Donovan tried everything else (I tried his, but the lobster was just unbeatable). They had King Fish, Barracuda – which if you’ve never tried is a close second to lobster, Spanish Macrel, Prawn (Shrimp in America), Squid, White Snapper and Red Snapper. Heaven. They would even go and get us beers – which is really nice since they are in short order on the island and they have to go down to another shop to get them. We met two English girls and told them about Mama’s. They caught on fast and we ended up eating with them 2 of the 5 nights. Good times.
Here’s the deal with alcohol. Bring your own whiskey! Luckily we did. Being a Muslim country, booze is hard to come by. They don’t approve of it in many places and it’s not allowed in others. Muslim run business in Kecil aren’t able to get liquor licenses, however their Chinese counterparts are. Here’s how we learned. One night we went to a pseudo full moon party on the other side of the island. We sat in the sand at small tables drinking beer and our whiskey stash when the bar all of the sudden stopped selling, cleared off all evidence of drinking. No one said anything. We learned that the “moral police” showed up to investigate the goingson of this peaceful remote island. Apparently, there are two different kinds of police and the moral police come around quite a bit more than the police you are I are aware of. Shortly after they left, the party picked back up and alcohol was served again. However, beer ran out and they had to send a boat to the mainland to get more. The only type of hard liquor they had was vodka and the only mixer was ice. Ouch. Lots of drunk people that night. I sprained my ankle in the jungle on the way home. That was the last of the late night jungle treks for me. We stayed on the other side of the island the rest of the time.
Besides Laos, which Donovan and I thought was our favorite county we visited, the Perhentian Islands are a place we could have stayed for several weeks. Life is simple and easy – not to mention cheap. And the diving was unbelievable!!! We saw a 6 foot black tip reef shark – I didn’t want to leave until we did. There were stingrays, GIANT puffer fish, scorpion fish, a very large turtle – another thing I couldn’t leave without seeing, and on and on. We dove a ship wreck, which was also pretty interesting. When you looked inside you could see bamboo sharks hiding – wow! They sell these cases for your digital camera and you can bring it underwater with you. Pricy, but we’ll have to think about investing in one after this. It’s just too hard to describe how amazing it is down there.
What else? Six days in paradise. Not a bad ending to an unforgettable vacation.
On one side is the pier and a somewhat busy beach front with various restaurants and guesthouses. Longtail boats come in and out all day long taking tourists out snorkeling or on tours or they might be just going out to fish. Tourism is obviously the only livelihood the islanders have. Catching fish, selling fish, cooking fish, snorkeling, scuba diving, a few small shops selling necessities (such as suntan lotion and Frisbees), 8-10 restaurants and about 20 guesthouses. We’re talking small. The place we stayed was called Shari-La. It’s currently being remodeled. Upon completion we probably couldn’t afford to stay there – at least not for long. It’s going to be an amazing place. The restaurant is located over the cliffs and decks are being built so guests can have a perfect view of the sunset. The bungalows are spacious and clean with nice hardwoods, but can be closed off so at night it’s completely pitch black. We loved it! One side the hotel has stairs down to “Romantic Beach.” We saw maybe 8 people there all three days we went. The beach was deserted accept for the locals who come fish off the cliffs every night. We watched as they caught the fish, gutted them and built a fire to eat their dinner. Simple life.
Every night we walked down to the beach on the other side of our hotel, watched the sunset from the cliff, then went to dinner at “Mama’s Café.” The staff here is friendly and fun and the food was SO good. Every evening when it gets dark around 7:30 or 8 p.m. they light up the BBQ on the beach front. You sit at tables stuck in the sand and can dine on any type of perfectly grilled fish, along with a side of rice, baked potato, coleslaw and fruit. Seriously, I had 3 lobster tails with garlic butter – 5 nights in a row. FOR less than $6! I want to go back! Donovan tried everything else (I tried his, but the lobster was just unbeatable). They had King Fish, Barracuda – which if you’ve never tried is a close second to lobster, Spanish Macrel, Prawn (Shrimp in America), Squid, White Snapper and Red Snapper. Heaven. They would even go and get us beers – which is really nice since they are in short order on the island and they have to go down to another shop to get them. We met two English girls and told them about Mama’s. They caught on fast and we ended up eating with them 2 of the 5 nights. Good times.
Here’s the deal with alcohol. Bring your own whiskey! Luckily we did. Being a Muslim country, booze is hard to come by. They don’t approve of it in many places and it’s not allowed in others. Muslim run business in Kecil aren’t able to get liquor licenses, however their Chinese counterparts are. Here’s how we learned. One night we went to a pseudo full moon party on the other side of the island. We sat in the sand at small tables drinking beer and our whiskey stash when the bar all of the sudden stopped selling, cleared off all evidence of drinking. No one said anything. We learned that the “moral police” showed up to investigate the goingson of this peaceful remote island. Apparently, there are two different kinds of police and the moral police come around quite a bit more than the police you are I are aware of. Shortly after they left, the party picked back up and alcohol was served again. However, beer ran out and they had to send a boat to the mainland to get more. The only type of hard liquor they had was vodka and the only mixer was ice. Ouch. Lots of drunk people that night. I sprained my ankle in the jungle on the way home. That was the last of the late night jungle treks for me. We stayed on the other side of the island the rest of the time.
Besides Laos, which Donovan and I thought was our favorite county we visited, the Perhentian Islands are a place we could have stayed for several weeks. Life is simple and easy – not to mention cheap. And the diving was unbelievable!!! We saw a 6 foot black tip reef shark – I didn’t want to leave until we did. There were stingrays, GIANT puffer fish, scorpion fish, a very large turtle – another thing I couldn’t leave without seeing, and on and on. We dove a ship wreck, which was also pretty interesting. When you looked inside you could see bamboo sharks hiding – wow! They sell these cases for your digital camera and you can bring it underwater with you. Pricy, but we’ll have to think about investing in one after this. It’s just too hard to describe how amazing it is down there.
What else? Six days in paradise. Not a bad ending to an unforgettable vacation.
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